holding and subsidairy companies

As per Companies Act 2013, “subsidiary” means a company in which the “holding company” either on its own or together with one or more of its subsidiary companies:—

(i) controls the composition of the Board of Directors; or

(ii) exercises or controls more than one-half of the total share capital 

A holding company is the company which holds majority shareholding of more than 50% shares in other companies.

In other words, Holding-subsidiary is the name of relationship between two companies in which one company holds more than 50% shares in the other company or exercises control over the governing body of the other company.

For Eg - If H Ltd. holds 51% equity shares of S Ltd. Herein H Ltd. would be referred to as the "holding company" while S Ltd. is its “subsidiary”